Category: NFTs

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Australia Gaming NFTs Play to Earn

Survey Finds 32% Would Quit Their Job to Play NFT Games Full-Time

A new survey conducted by Balthazar, an Australian NFT gaming company, has found that one in three people would be willing to quit their job if NFT games could allow them to work full-time as gamers.

At least 32 percent of the survey’s 1,103 respondents – predominantly from the Philippines – said they would engage full-time in NFT games if they allowed them to earn the same as, or more than, their current jobs.

Balthazar CEO John Stefanidis says he isn’t surprised by the survey’s findings:

[Gamers] love play-to-earn games and many are ready to quit their other jobs to play NFT games instead, as they could potentially be earning the same, if not more, from playing NFT games.

John Stefanidis, CEO, Balthazar

However, the majority of respondents believe the P2E ecosystem is still in its infancy and is not mature enough to provide them with an adequate income. Over two-thirds said they would need to earn between US$1 to $20 per day (those who have jobs in the Philippines earn an average US$316 per month, or about US$16 per workday) to play NFT games full-time.

Other respondents said they could just play NFT games while keeping their jobs. Some, however, can’t afford NFT assets to even start playing, the reason why Balthazar offers scholarships for its users.

P2E Disrupting the Games Industry

The rise of non-fungible token video games has provided gamers with an opportunity to earn a passive income, thanks to the P2E (Play-to-Earn) model implemented by popular titles such as Axie Infinity.

With the rise of NFT games, a new inducement to engage newcomers to the space is via scholarships, basically a practice where owners of NFTs transfer their assets to new players who don’t own any of their own to play for them and receive a percentage of the earnings. This became a popular method within the Axie Infinity community:

We believe that play-to-earn games will be the biggest disruptor in the crypto space this year, as well as the video game industry, as more gaming companies, crypto holders and traditional investors are investing in the space.

John Stefanidis, CEO, Balthazar

However, it seems some are not happy with the rise of the NFT and P2E industries, tagging them as creators of “bullshit jobs” – a term coined by American anthropologist David Graeber whose 2018 book of the same name analyses the societal harm of meaningless jobs.

By way of perspective, a report published by the Blockchain Game Alliance in December showed that NFT games generated US$2.3 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2021 alone, and generally saw remarkable growth throughout the year.

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Blockchain Crypto News NFTs

Spotify Job Ads Hint At Move Towards Web 3.0

News that Spotify is looking to hire staff with Web3 expertise suggests the music streaming behemoth is preparing to defend its turf against blockchain music startups such as Royal, Catalog and Sound.XYZ, all three of which intend to sell music directly to fans as NFTs.

In two job vacancies posted online, Spotify is seeking a senior backend engineer who will “facilitate collaboration with product, insights, and design to uncover the next growth opportunity leveraging new technologies like Web3”, as well as a senior manager to form part of its Innovation and Market Intelligence team. Candidates for the latter position require “expert familiarity with emerging trends”, specifically Web3.

Musicians have increasingly looked to NFT technology as a way to boost their income from selling music, complaining that the streaming subscription model of services such as Spotify has lowered their earnings compared to potential sales of digital files as proposed by the blockchain music startups.

Spotify a ‘Business Model for Ants’

The NFT startups argue that Spotify’s system is a “business model for ants”. Musicians could earn way more, they suggest, by selling works directly to fans as NFTs.

Startup Sound.XYZ intends to sell music directly to fans as NFTs. Source: Sound.XYZ

Another reason Spotify appears to be expediting its Web3 plans is that YouTube confirmed its Web3 intentions in February, citing the technology’s “incredible potential” for content creators through the use of blockchain technology and NFTs.

Just this week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed NFTs were coming to Instagram. Zuckerberg did not commit to a specific date but said users would “hopefully” be able to mint NFTs in the next few months.

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Airdrop APENFT Bored Ape Yacht Club Crypto News Cryptocurrencies DAO NFTs Tokens

ApeCoin Surges and Then Dives 80% On Its Debut Trading Day

After Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) holders received an airdrop of the new ApeCoin (APE) this week, it was promptly sold off with the token dropping significantly as a result.

On March 17, ApeDAO launched the new ApeCoin linked to BAYC, one of the most valuable non-fungible token (NFT) projects in the space. The launch had a bit of a rough start after the APE token fell nearly 80 per cent in the first few trading hours, though it now seems to be steadily climbing as the accumulation phase starts for those who couldn’t get the coins for the airdrop.

ApeCoin/USD price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

The token fell from its high of US$39.40 to a relatively stable $14.75 at the time of writing. At one stage, the coin was trading for as low as $6.48, according to CoinMarketCap. The total market cap for the token now sits at around US$4 billion, making it the 33rd-largest coin on the day of its launch.

APE was airdropped to BYAC NFT holders after the announcement that it was part of a new campaign by ApeDAO. Each holder received 10,000 coins that could be collected for a 90-day period, but users quickly sold their coins, pushing the price down considerably.

ApeCoin Airdrop Follows Familiar Pattern

If previous airdrops are anything to go by, this one might just be following a similar pattern, according to Braindrops’ co-founder, who attributes its classic price movement to a large release of tokens. This, however, remains to be proved:

According to its official website, the coin will serve as “a decentralised protocol layer for community-led initiatives that drive culture forward into the metaverse”. The token was developed by ApeCoinDAO, a different entity from Yuga Labs – the creators of BAYC – and has some heavy hitters, such as the co-founder of Reddit and the Head of Ventures and Gaming at FTX, sitting on its advisory board.

Is Coin Launch Helping the Project?

When looking at the marketplace, a consequence of the asset’s launch could have helped the average price of the BAYC collection. The project floor price rose significantly across the past seven days from 76.11 ETH on March 11, with a total volume of 913 ETH, to an average price of 110.15 ETH and a volume of 9,583 ETH in the hours following the launch.

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Crime Crypto News Hackers NFTs OpenSea

$790,000 Worth of Rare Bear NFTs Stolen in Brazen Phishing Attack

Members of the Rare Bears NFT community woke on March 16 to find it had lost assets to the tune of US$790,000 due to a phishing scam. According to the team, weakened security of its Discord group allowed a perpetrator to spread a phishing link.

Rare Bear is a collection of 2,400 NFTs of cartoon-themed bears built atop the Ethereum blockchain. It was launched via a public mint last week and created by a New-Zealand-based digital artist called Enox.

Attacker Poses as Moderator

The phishing attack took place when an unknown person gained unauthorised access to the project’s Discord server, posing as an official moderator. There, the attacker was able to share a phishing link designed to steal people’s funds. The project took to Twitter to inform its community:

The attacker shared a message saying there was a new NFT mint, and then provided a link to a phishing site. Another user known as “steldes” on Twitter posted a screenshot of the phony announcement on the Discord server, with the scammer named Zhodan.

Malicious Smart Contract Allows Control Over Wallets

The fake announcement informed members of an additional 1,000 rare NFTs being added to the collection at a mint price of 0.1 ETH, or US$280. The website hosted a malicious smart contract that, when interacted with, allowed control over the victims’ wallets. As a result the hacker stole 179 NFTs and other assets belonging to everyone who participated in the mint:

The hacker then moved the assets to their Ethereum address. Soon after, most NFTs were sold one by one to the tune of 286 ETH, amounting to US$790,000. Exactly 213 ETH of the total was routed through mixing service Tornado Cash and 72.3 ETH was sent across three wallets:

Phishing Scams Rife in NFT Space

Due to the unregulated nature of the digital asset space, scams are an all too often occurrence, targeting NFTs heavily. A popular method of stealing NFTs is via phishing attacks. In January, a Bored Ape collector lost NFTs worth a whopping US$2.2 million. OpenSea also experienced a phishing scam in February in which at least US$3 million worth of NFTs were stolen.

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Crypto News Ethereum NFTs Polygon Rarible Tezos

Rarible Adds Polygon to Newly Released Wallet Housing All Your NFTs

NFT marketplace Rarible has been quite busy in the past couple of months and has now announced the addition of Polygon NFTs as well as multi-wallet support. Polygon joins Ethereum, Flow and Tezos as part of the platform’s vision for multi-chain commerce.

Tezos joined Rarible in December and was integrated with Flow in November. Rarible’s biggest competitor and marketleader, OpenSea, supports Ethereum, Polygon and Klatyn, and added Polygon-based NFTs in October.

Polygon is a sidechain scaling solution for Ethereum that enables faster and cheaper transactions than the Ethereum mainnet. Unlike Ethereum, which uses energy-intensive proof-of-work, Polygon relies on the eco-friendlier proof-of-stake consensus model that remains backed by the security offered by Ethereum.

Rarible Aims to Clear ‘Roadblocks’

As Rarible’s co-founder Alexei Falin said, “We have enjoyed watching the NFT market grow rapidly throughout the past two years but acknowledge that there are certain roadblocks that exist within the space, including high gas fees and ecosystem limitations. As a top NFT protocol and marketplace we have a responsibility to solve issues related to NFT creation and consumption, which is at the core of our multi-chain vision.”

Rarible Rolls Out ‘Multi-Wallet’

The marketplace has also launched a multi-wallet profile feature on Rarible.com that lets users sign in with up to 20 wallets at a time across different blockchains. By doing so, users with multiple wallets across various supported ecosystems won’t have to constantly sign in and out when buying and selling NFTs on the platform.

Falin has said, “We have seen firsthand how inconvenient it is to log in and out of wallets that hold collectibles spanning blockchains. To streamline this process for our users, the multi-wallet profile can support collections across any Rarible-supported blockchain in one place, so you can access items with one simple click.”

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Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

’90s Media Player ‘Winamp’ to Launch Original Skin as an NFT

Music fans of a certain age, Gen-Xers and Millennials in particular, may remember the Winamp media player, one of the earliest pieces of MP3 audio software.

Now, 25 years after its foundation, Winamp (yes, the brand still exists) is about to sell an NFT (non-fungible token) based on the original 1997 player’s graphical skin, making it the latest company to exploit the combination of nostalgia and crypto.

Auction on OpenSea in May, Proceeds to Charity

Winamp will put the NFT up for auction through OpenSea between May 16 and May 22, followed by a separate sale of 1,997 NFTs in total linked to 20 artworks derived from the original skin. Proceeds will go to the Winamp Foundation, which promises to donate them to charity projects starting with the Belgian non-profit Music Fund.

All Winamp NFTs will sell for 0.08 ETH (about US$220 at time of writing). The artists will receive 10 percent of any royalties on later sales, where sellers will set their own price. Buyers will have the right to “copy, reproduce and display” their image, but they won’t own the copyright. Similarly, selected artists will agree to transfer all intellectual property for their work to Winamp.

Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be

Winamp has evolved from its MP3 software beginnings and is now more of a mobile audio app. Peer-to-peer file-sharing service LimeWire also recently “relaunched” as an NFT marketplace but it bears no resemblance to its original early 2000s iteration.

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Facebook Metaverse NFTs

Zuckerberg Confirms Instagram Will Soon Feature NFTs

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, has confirmed that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will soon be coming to Instagram.  

The plan was revealed in an interview with Shark Tank’s Daymond John at an SXSW convention in Austin, Texas, US. The goal is for Instagram to become compatible with NFTs in “the near future” – over the next several months.

This appears to be another stepping stone in Meta’s path to the metaverse. It’s unclear at this point how the facility may look on the platform, though Zuckerberg did detail that Instagram users will have the option to mint their own NFTs.

NFTs on Facebook as Well

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri admitted in December 2021 that the social media giant was considering integrating NFTs, saying that at the time the company was “actively exploring” the possibility. January 2022 saw Meta begin experimentation with how an NFT marketplace might work on the platform. Meta wanted to offer users the option to create and display NFTs on their Facebook and Instagram pages, intentions that are now being acted on.

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Banking Crypto News Metaverse NFTs Payments

American Express Ventures into NFTs and the Metaverse

American Express has followed the lead of payments peers Visa and Mastercard in exploring Web3 applications and planting its digital footprint in the metaverse.

The world’s second-largest payments processor has filed seven trademark applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office, each linking its distinctive Centurion logo to virtual services.

Included in the filings are requests by American Express to:

  • secure trademarks on software for credit cards, travel and concierge services;
  • create a virtual environment for recreation and entertainment;
  • establish an NFT marketplace;
  • offer wallet services for digital and blockchain assets;
  • set up a virtual currency exchange, and
  • provide digitised and utility token trading services.

American Express is also considering providing card payments, ATM services, other banking services and a fraud detection system to customers in the metaverse. “[We’re] always monitoring emerging technologies to see how they could benefit our customers, and the metaverse is a space we’re following closely,” an AmEx spokesperson told Business Insider this week.

Metaverse Could Generate ‘Up To $8 Trillion’

The metaverse holds a deep attraction for major financial firms, with Wall Street predicting it could be worth trillions of dollars – up to US$8 trillion, according to Goldman Sachs strategists, though JPMorgan more conservatively estimates it could generate up to US$1 trillion in annual revenue.

While some major banks have been hesitant when it comes to cryptocurrency, others – including Australia’s Commonwealth Bank – have engaged with blockchain-based technologies.

Last year, American Express began dabbling in NFTs, offering card members a limited series of 14 non-fungible tokens featuring the recording artist SZA, each costing US$100.

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Bored Ape Yacht Club Metaverse NFTs Tokens

Bored Ape Start-up Plans Metaverse Project Including Virtual Land NFTs and APECoin Token

Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has announced its intentions to sell a large quantity of virtual land. The goal of the sales is to broaden the community and raise approximately US$178 million toward the progress of Yuga’s gaming-focused metaverse project, MetaRPG:

Big Plans for Bored Apes

Yuga Labs is predicted to generate net revenues of US$455 million in 2022, with the profits from virtual land sales likely to form a large part of this sum. In phase one of its metaverse initiative, Yuga intends to sell 200,000 plots over two sales, to take place this month and in August.

Moving into the metaverse will help Yuga Labs diversify its revenue streams and move away from BAYC NFTs. Yet not everyone in the Twitter community is convinced:

Despite the scepticism of its plans, Yuga has supplied onlookers with a name for the metaverse initiative alongside some basic information. The project is called MetaRPG and will be gaming-focused and compatible with a range of NFTs. An in-game app store will allow players to create characters via NFTs and use them in games.

It’s also worth noting that APECoin is the proposed token for Yuga Labs’ metaverse. The currency will be usable in the in-game store and will encourage bartering and trading among players.

At this very early stage, there are little to no details of how exactly users may be able to participate in Yuga Labs’ latest venture.

Bored Apes: Rights and Partnerships

The Bored Ape Yacht Club has always been a notable presence within the NFT and crypto community. However, the creative minds behind BAYC have been busy over the past year expanding its horizons. In late 2021, the project announced a partnership with Adidas to enter the metaverse after the sports apparel brand paid US$156,000 for a single Ape.

More recently, Yuga Labs acquired the rights to two other hit NFT collections – CryptoPunks and Meebits. The company purchased both the commercial rights and intellectual property rights and has plans to award full commercial rights to NFT holders.

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Bored Ape Yacht Club Crypto News CryptoPunks NFTs

Bored Ape Creators Buy IP and Commercial Rights to NFT Rival CryptoPunks

Yuga Labs, the creator behind popular non-fungible token (NFT) project Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has just acquired commercial rights to two of the most popular collections on the market, CryptoPunks and Meebits.

Rivals No Longer

After rumours spread like wildfire, Yuga Labs confirmed on the weekend that it had acquired the intellectual property rights, as well as all commercial rights, to CryptoPunks and Meebits.

This means that we now own the brands, copyright in the art, and other IP rights for both collections, along with 423 CryptoPunks and 1711 Meebits.

Yuga Labs announcement

The deal was said to have originated “organically” in conversations between one Yuga Labs partner and the Larva Labs founders. Apparently “one call led to another and here we are at this historic moment”.

The Larva Labs co-founders highlighted their view that Yuga Labs would be the ideal custodian of their creation, saying:

Yuga Labs are the innovators of the modern profile picture project, and the best in the world at operating these projects. They are the ideal stewards of the CryptoPunks and Meebits. In their hands, we are confident that they will continue to be vital, thriving projects in the emerging decentralised web.

Matt Hall and John Watkinson, co-founders of Larva Labs, CryptoPunks and Meebits

Two Different Approaches

In tracing the stories of the two most valuable NFT projects, it’s clear that BAYC and CryptoPunks chose very different paths. Whereas CryptoPunks took a more hands-off approach, the BAYC has come to resemble an exclusive membership club with an ever-increasing array of perks.

Aside from exclusivity of holding the NFT itself, BAYC holders seem to believe that part of its value lies in its ability to commercialise the Bored Ape image. This has translated into real-world events, partnerships, and even a play-to-earn game. And despite the proliferation of copycat projects, high-profile associations with the likes of Adidas have seen the BAYC take some of the shine away from the NFT OGs, the CryptoPunks.

Last month, CryptoPunk #5822 sold for US$24 million. Source: OpenSea

While some holders of CryptoPunks will no doubt be concerned about the direction of the project post-acquisition, others may well be looking at it as an opportunity to not only commercialise, but increase the exposure and publicity of the NFT OG. One prospect that appeared to gain support on Twitter was @Gee_Gazza’s take: